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Researchers create an exotic form of superconductivity

Catwell

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These lines show the temperature a sample must reach (10 kelvins) to exhibit superconducting behavior. (Image Credit: 2020 Okazaki et al.)

 

Superconductors, a material that allows electricity to flow through it with absolutely no resistance, could be very beneficial for future electronics. For the first time, researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan found a way to create a superconductor from Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC).

 

The commonly known states of matter are solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas. The fifth and lesser-known one, Bose-Einstein Condensate, occurs when a gas of bosons are cooled down to near absolute zero. Experiments have exhibited that quantum phenomena can be studied at a macroscopic scale. Previously, scientists have used BECs as a basis to create exotic states of matter such as supersolids, excitonium, quantum ball lightning, and fluids with negative mass.

 

"A BEC is a unique state of matter as it is not made from particles, but rather waves," said Associate Professor Kozo Okazaki from the Institute for Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo. "As they cool down to near absolute zero, the atoms of certain materials become smeared out over space. This smearing increases until the atoms — now more like waves than particles — overlap, becoming indistinguishable from one another. The resulting matter behaves like it's one single entity with new properties the preceding solid, liquid or gas states lacked, such as superconduction. Until recently, superconducting BECs were purely theoretical, but we have now demonstrated this in the lab with a novel material based on iron and selenium (a nonmetallic element)."

 

In their new study, the Tokyo researchers have demonstrated superconductivity in a BEC, which was never confirmed in previous experiments. This was accomplished by producing a BEC out of a cloud of iron and selenium atoms.

 

The team turned to overlapping BEC with the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) regime to verify BEC's superconductivity. Similar to BECs, BCS regimes are produced when clouds of atoms are cooled down to near absolute zero, causing the atoms to slow down and line-up. This allows electrons to pass through without any resistance. 

 

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The team observed how electrons (red crosses) behaved under varying circumstances, which revealed a smooth conversion from BEC to BCS superconductivity regime. (Image Credit: 2020 Okazaki et al.)

"Demonstrating the superconductivity of BECs was a means to an end; we were really hoping to explore the overlap between BECs and BCSs," said Okazaki. "It was extremely challenging, but our unique apparatus and method of observation has verified it — there is a smooth transition between these regimes. And this hints at a more general underlying theory behind superconduction. It is an exciting time to be working in this field."

 

The team used ultra-low temperature and high-energy laser-based photoemission spectroscopy to observe how the electrons behaved while a material transitioned from BCS to BEC. Even though electrons behaved differently in both regimes, the overlap allowed the team to observe superconductivity in a BEC.

This discovery doesn't have any public applications, but understanding the phenomenon on a deeper level could help researchers develop better superconductors in the future.

 

"With conclusive evidence of superconducting BECs, I think it will prompt other researchers to explore superconduction at higher and higher temperatures," said Okazaki. "It may sound like science fiction for now, but if superconduction can occur near room temperature, our ability to produce energy would greatly increase, and our energy needs would decrease."

 

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Parents

  • Super conductivity is one of those interesting states in atoms.

    The key is to get the atoms at a basic state where they have the photon shell with a minimum level of photons.

    New photons will then bounce off the photon shell and travel down the matrix of atoms without being absorbed.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    Would have been interesting to show frequency of photon emitted and the nature of the atom involved!

  • in reply to jipilabont

    From my analysis, during superconductivity, the photons are not absorbed or emitted, but just bounce off the photon shells, which is much faster than going through the absorption and emission process.

    The process works for all range of photons, so there should be no frequency dependencies.

    Any atom reduced to a superconduction state will work.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    From your explanation the conductivity state of matter at normal state is like a pin bal machine where the balls (photons) bumping on the pin compresses the relay in that pin « the photon shell », make a sound and is pushed back I play, equivalent to a absorption of energy and reemission of photon. At super conductivity state the matter becomes like a plinko machine where there is no compression (absorption- reemission) and the photons just bounce of the pin(photon shell) and continue their way to the free way between atoms. There is no sound so to speak but production of a new magnetic field relative to the atom structure. Is this field produce by the photon passing by or a shaking of the photon shell?

    Jean-Pierre LaBonté

  • in reply to jipilabont

    We just finished some calculations on how a photon approaches an atom and how very subtle issues determine if it is reflected or absorbed.

    The key for superconductors is that the photon shell is at its closest to the atomic nucleus, so you get just a bit of extra repulsive force from the nucleus.

    Just that little bit pushes most photons away from the atom so there is no absorption issues unless you get a direct hit with just the right orientation.

    It is fascinating when you look at the close approach issues.

    It is the subtle factors in a given photon that pushes it into the photon shell verses just bouncing off and continuing through the material.

     

    There are three forces that contribute to the photon being absorbed or repulsed. These are gravity, electrostatic charge and the electromagnetic field produced inside the photon.

    We have a nice math model that shows how the photon vibration translates into a rotational increase so that all energy is conserved as the photon gets absorbed.

     

    DAB

Comment
  • in reply to jipilabont

    We just finished some calculations on how a photon approaches an atom and how very subtle issues determine if it is reflected or absorbed.

    The key for superconductors is that the photon shell is at its closest to the atomic nucleus, so you get just a bit of extra repulsive force from the nucleus.

    Just that little bit pushes most photons away from the atom so there is no absorption issues unless you get a direct hit with just the right orientation.

    It is fascinating when you look at the close approach issues.

    It is the subtle factors in a given photon that pushes it into the photon shell verses just bouncing off and continuing through the material.

     

    There are three forces that contribute to the photon being absorbed or repulsed. These are gravity, electrostatic charge and the electromagnetic field produced inside the photon.

    We have a nice math model that shows how the photon vibration translates into a rotational increase so that all energy is conserved as the photon gets absorbed.

     

    DAB

Children
  • in reply to DAB

    I Was also wondering how the magnetic presence shown in photos were produce with two sheets of graphene at different angle from one another, mimicking the hexagone structure. It takes two to dance but 6 to make a cristal!

    JeanPierre

  • in reply to jipilabont

    It depends upon how you view the structure.

    In my theory, creating the physical 3D structure with the hexagon intact enables the photons to move around the six atoms with the magnetic vector passing through the two atoms in the center, but offset from the others.

     

    Not everyone shares my description of this structure, but I found in my analysis that such a structure can easily support a permanent magnetic force.

     

    DAB